Preceptor Rotations

Faculty Mentorship

Dr. Ford might be available as a mentor for 2016-2017.
Dr. Ford might be available as a mentor for 2017-2018.

Profile

Summary of Current Research

Our laboratory group employs animal models of alcohol, nicotine, and methamphetamine abuse to arrive at a better understanding of the physiological and neurobiological bases of addiction. Over the past several years, our laboratory has developed multiple models that address the behavioral processes underlying self-administration, reinforcement, reinstatement, and discrimination. These behavior-based models were initially implemented to examine the influence of endogenous neuroactive steroids, which exhibit positive modulatory activity at GABAA receptors, on the appetitive and consumptive processes associated with alcohol self-administration in mice. We have now expanded our research endeavors to include studies of both nicotine and methamphetamine as well as exploration of drug self-administration within a non-human primate model. Current projects in the laboratory seek to address: 1) alcohol-nicotine interactions and the neurobiological underpinnings of co-abuse, 2) influence of a non-synonymous polymorphism in the α5 nicotinic receptor subunit (rs16969968) on abuse-related behaviors, 3) alcohol-stress interactions and the role of environmental contingencies that results in 'conflict or cognitive' stress and associated 'binge' drinking, and 4) the feasibility of muscarinic and nicotinic receptor-based pharmacotherapy for methamphetamine abuse. By investigating roden and non-human primate models of drug consumption and discrimination (perception of subjective drug effects) it is hoped that brain mechanisms underlying the propensity to self-administer drugs uncontrollably can be identified and subsequently manipulated to provide more effective treatment options for abusers.